None but the Lonely Heart
by pandorabox82
Summary: This is my take on what happened to make Setsuna the Guardian of the Gates of Time


1 Author's Note: Hi! This is my first fanfiction, but I've read a lot of the stuff that's out there, and it inspired me to write this, about a year ago. It is to date, the first of two pieces I've finished. I hope you enjoy it, please R/R. Thanks, pandorabox82.  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own Sailormoon. That world belongs to Naoko Takeuchi, and I am just borrowing her characters for a short period of time, and promise to return them in the condition they came in.  
  
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4 "None but the Lonely Heart"  
  
4.1.1 By: pandorabox82  
  
"No man is an island, divided from the main." thought Setsuna. "That's what Queen Serenity told me when she gave me permission to leave the Gate of Time. I've been alone for so long though, that I don't know if I can be a part of this world. But I must fulfil my mission, to protect our princess, and future queen. Well, here goes nothing. Look out world, here comes Meioh Setsuna!"  
  
Hi, I'm Meioh Setsuna, and I'm nineteen years old. Or, at least that's what I look like. Since the dawn of time, I've been Sailorpluto, Guardian of Time, and protector of the royal family of the moon. But since I was reborn by the awesome power of Queen Serenity, I've been allowed to live among the friends that I've protected from afar. They don't know I've come to join them yet, but I can't wait to help them protect this world.  
  
My first day was spent moving in to a nice apartment in the Tenoh apartment complex. I was one floor above Haruka, and two above Michiru, my fellow Outer Senshi. I knew a little of our mission, which was to keep the power of Saturn from awakening. I also enrolled at the Infinity College as a freshman in biological studies. I hope that my studies will help me to make friends, so that I can escape this crushing loneliness that I keep feeling in my soul. It's always been a part of me, just as I've always been separated from humanity, where I was born. But, being a foolish and reckless child, I broke into the first Queen Serenity's throne room, and touched the Imperium Silver Crystal, which has the power to heal, and also to give eternal life. I reached out for it, and the immense power filled my being. Queen Serenity ran in, and broke down sobbing when she saw what had happened.  
  
"Why are you crying?" I asked her, searching her eyes for some clue to her sorrow.  
  
"My child," she replied, "do you have any idea what you have just done? What you have committed yourself to? My sweet little Setsuna, I tried to change your destiny, let you be normal, with this human race, and be one of the internal guard of Our little princess. But it seems as if your fate will not be thwarted. You are destined to be the one a part of humanity, and yet apart from it. You begin training immediately for your new position as the Senshi of Time, Sailorpluto."  
  
"Why must it be me? I don't want to leave my friends or you, Mama! It's not fair!"  
  
"Life is never fair, my sweetest angel. Nevertheless, we all must accept our fate, my darling child. Do not despair, though. There will come a time when you will have to rejoin the human race. So have hope, my beloved. Things are never as bad as they seem."  
  
"Mama, I can't leave you, or little Serenity. I love her and my stepfather so much! Don't make me leave!"  
  
Queen Serenity's gaze became clouded as she straightened her shoulders. I knew this look, and dreaded it. "Setsuna, it matters not how you feel, or what you want. You have broken a major taboo in our society, and you must be punished. I tried to protect you from this, yet your recklessness caused it. In three months time, you will begin your training as the Senshi of Time. I have spoken, my word is final."  
  
With that fatal proclamation ringing in my ears, I turned and ran from her room, trying to escape from my fate. That's when I ran into him, Prince Endymion of Earth. He was here for the betrothal ceremony of himself to little Serenity. I fell to the ground, stunned and dazed. He reached down to help me up, and that's when I saw his eyes. They were a rich, deep blue, so deep you could lose yourself in them if you weren't careful. I knew that I would never meet another person like him ever again.  
  
"Oh, excuse me, Princess Setsuna. Are you alright? You look like you've been crying."  
  
As I brushed off the dust from the skirt of my midnight blue skirt, I replied, "I'll be fine when I learn to accept my fate."  
  
"Princess, don't play games with me. I know that something is really wrong. Can you tell me what it is?"  
  
I didn't want to tell him. It still hurt too much, I thought. Yet, somehow I knew that if I did tell someone, I might feel better about it. Taking a deep breath, trying to calm my running nerves, I told him my story.  
  
"I'm being banished for my headstrong ways! Mama said that she saw it in my destiny, and that I would have been there anyways, but I don't believe that! I don't want to leave her or my family, and yet I'm to become the Senshi of Time, and leave all that I love and hold dear to me!" To my immense mortification, I started sobbing as I said those last words. I brought my hands up to my face, trying to hide my tears that ran like drops of diamond down my face. I felt his arm go around my, drawing me into the warmth that would always be his, and in that moment, I knew I was in love and that no matter what we would meet again.  
  
"Don't cry, little one. Things will work out for you, I can just feel it. If this is your fate, then you must accept it. No one can run from God forever, you know." He said in a voice so full of maturity, for one so young. I took my hands from my face, and stared at him for a few seconds before giving him a quick hug. I then broke from his embrace and ran to my room, certain that I would never, ever wash my arms again. Yet, his words kept coming back to me. "No one can run from God forever." What a choice thing to say. It penetrated to the very core of my being, and in that instant, I accepted my fate. After changing my clothes into the uniform that had magically appeared in my closet, I walked back to Mama's room, fully ready to start my training, and to put my sister's betrothed out of my mind.  
  
"Mama, I'm ready," I said.  
  
"Are you sure? This has to be your decision, I can't force you."  
  
"I must accept my fate. No one can run from God forever."  
  
"Who told you that, Setsuna?"  
  
"A very wise young man. Now let me begin my training."  
  
The month long training sessions were very grueling, and forced me to learn new things about myself, and the powers I now controlled. My last attack that I learned, Pluto Dead Scream, took the most out of my being. I finally managed it, though, and with that, Mama said I was ready to take over at the Gate of Time.  
  
"Now, dear heart, there are three taboos which may never be broken. The first is that you may never leave the Gate of Time, unless released from your duty by a descendant of this line. Next, travel in and out of the Gate by anyone is not permitted. Third, and this is the most important, you must never stop time. If you are to do so, you will destroy yourself. Now take your Garnet Staff, and follow me."  
  
She led me to a place in the palace that I had never been to before. Taking a key out of her robe, she held it in the air, and said, "Key of Time, open the door to the Gate of Time." An ornate door opened before us, and to my amazement, out walked a tall young woman.  
  
"Ah, Trista, you are now relived of your duty. Go and live a normal life."  
  
"Yes, my Queen. And you must be my replacement. Here, take the keys to the Gate of Time, and remember your duties." She smiled kindly down at me, before she walked into the palace. I never saw her again. I gave one last hug to my mother before stepping through the Gate.  
  
This was when loneliness became my only friend. There, at the Gate of Time, I thought about what might have been. I watched over my family, saw my stepfather die a few months after I took up my position, the growing hostilities between the Earth and the Moon Kingdoms. The day when Serenity and Endymion finally met again, and fell in love. About this time, I noticed a tangle in the threads of time. Something evil was coming, and I could do nothing to stop it. I tried to warn Mamma, but she wouldn't listen to me. All I could do was watch in horror as Beryl came and destroyed our home, our way of life, and all my friends. Before Mother died, she sent them all into the future, to meet again, and have a chance at a normal life.  
  
"What about me?" I cried out to her as the last breath was leaving her body.  
  
"My darling child, I have not the strength to send you to join them. Someday, you'll be needed to help them. Be patient, know that this time is over, and that I will always love you. I hate to see it end this way, but it must. Goodbye, my little one. I go to join your father." With those words, her soul escaped her body, and flew out to join Chronos' in the heavens.  
  
It was awhile before I realized that there were tears running down my face. I thought they had been drained from me in the first few months of this life. I returned to look at the timeline, and saw the spark happen. They were in their new time. Only then did I realize how far in the future it would be before they were reborn into the glorious people they were supposed to be. I lived outside of time now, finally figuring out how Trista had stayed so young. Some things, you have to find out for your self.  
  
It was many years before she came to visit me, my little Rabbit. Though I was surprised to see her, I welcomed her visits. I knew that Neo-Queen Serenity would not be pleased to have her with me, but she was of my blood, and we became fast friends. Then, one day, disaster struck Crystal Tokyo. Neo-Queen Serenity was placed in a deep sleep, and ChibiUsa, my little Rabbit, went to the future to find Sailormoon, her mama's past self, to see if she could help her. I stood by, helpless to this, knowing the outcome already. It was my time. King Endymion, for he had been reborn, came to me, and said that I could go and help the Senshi. Gladly I went, but before I could do much good, the evil we were fighting captured us. Taking the source of power both from ChibiUsa, and Sailormoon, he went to destroy the past so he could rule the universe. I could not let him do this, so I broke my last taboo.  
  
"Time, I command you to stop!" Even as I said those words, I felt my life leaving me. I never had a chance, my loneliness welled up in me, and I cried to my mother, "Let me be reborn! I want to be normal again!"  
  
Somehow, she heard my plea, and released me to the future, to be a part of the Senshi. They had no idea I was back with them.  
  
My second day back, there was a new evil taking over the world. I sensed it, and wanted to help my friends. Yet, my powers had not been awakened yet. I went to the lab, and all of a sudden, I felt my strength leaving me. I fought against it, saying to myself, "I was not reborn just to die, I was reborn to help my friends!" The power of Pluto came flooding into my being, and I was transported to where my friends were fighting the enemy, and losing. I saw my little Rabbit, the only one who had ever befriended me in my time as the Guardian of Time, about to be hit.  
  
"Pluto Dead Scream!" I yelled. Everyone turned to look at me, amazed that I was there. And I felt that I was home. Then Queen Serenity's words came back to me. "For no man is an island, divided from the main." For the first time in my long life I knew what those words meant.  
  
( 2001 Stephanie Gates  
  
Disclaimer: I am not Naoko Takeuchi, I did not think of these characters as mine, I only borrowed them for a little while, to write this story. I hope you enjoyed it, and if you are a bigwig reading this, and want to sue me, too bad. I am a struggling college student who needs some way to blow off steam. All you'd get out of me would be a few textbooks, a lot of books, and about $5 cash. Comments, criticisms, or whatever should go to earthman007@yahoo.com Have a nice day! 


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